Jackson has filed several reports so far on his page, including one about the picture above, which sees Richard Armitage posing with his two size doubles.

As Jackson admits in one of the earliest blogs: “8.20am. Not my favourite time of the day. When I drive to the studio, I usually feel nervous, and the day seems daunting. 100 people are about to look to me to find out what our first shot is, what lens I want to use, and how many set-ups it's going to take to get the scene finished. Some of the time I have a plan, and some of the time I wing it. It helps to rehearse with the actors, and the ideas (hopefully good ones) start flowing.

“It's always better once we break the ice and start shooting. The good news is that the studio is 5 mins from home, with no traffic lights or rush hour.”

He goes on to describe how they have to shoot scenes leftover from the previous day and what various departments will be doing – including a few cranky dwarf-types…

Check out the blog as it develops over on Jackson’s Facebook page. The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug is due out on December 13 this year.